Combinatorial materials science seeks to rapidly screen large numbers of materials for important characteristics in order to discover commercially valuable new materials. A typical combinatorial experiment starts with the creation of a library of materials to be tested followed by an analysis of those materials. The library of materials can include from several materials to thousands of materials, where the materials typically vary by composition, though they can additionally or alternatively vary by other parameters such as grain size, particle size, porosity, phase, isotope ratio, surface treatment, and so forth. The analysis that is applied to the library of materials depends on the property or characteristic of interest. For example, to identify materials in a library that are suitable to be used as catalysts, the members of the library can be analyzed by bringing each member into contact with a reactant or reactants in a suitable reaction chamber and then analyzing the products of the reaction.
Fluid distribution systems for such parallel systems are known in the art. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,882 disclosing passive fluid distribution systems generally comprising flow restrictors such as capillaries, orifices and micromachined channels. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,026 disclosing microfluidic fluid distribution systems comprising binary-tree and three-dimensional distribution systems. See also U.S. Publication No. 2002-0048536 disclosing various schema involving microfluidic fluid distribution manifolds for selectively controlling fluid feed flowrates, feed compositions, and feed pressures. Others have disclosed microfluidic fluid distribution systems involving fluidic channels have irregularly-varied geometries.